Page 17 - Seniors Today - Oct 2019

taken as an advantage and never a disadvantage.
Feroz Khan with Hema Malini in Dharmatma
our farmhouse and our parties there. He was
everything but he wasn’t the typical father or
the typical family man. He had his own life and
liked the ease of it.
I was named Laila by him as he loved the
name. I clearly remember, when he was making
Qurbani I was eight years old. One evening he
came home and said ‘I have a gift for you and I
think you are going to like this one’ I got curious
to know what it was and he played the song
Laila O Laila. He had composed that song after
my name and I truly cherish this memory. The
song was composed in 1978. It’s been more than
40 years and till date it is played. Recently Shah
Rukh Khan remixed it in his film Raees and it
was beautifully received.
My father wasn’t an expressive man but I
understood him. I related to him. He was very
protective of me and that’s how I was brought
up. Loved but never spoilt. He would entrust a
lot of responsibilities on me and I tried my best
to carry them out as much as I could. He wasn’t
easy, he was a perfectionist hence I learned a lot
from him. The responsibilities made me grow
up overnight.
Sometimes when your parents are a little hard
on you when you are growing up, that should be
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Always look at it with the right perspective.
He loved this poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley that
I would read out to him –
Lift not the painted veil which those who live
Call Life: Though unreal shapes be pictured
there
And it but mimic all we would believe
With colours idly spread…
He was very close to his mother. He looked
after her beautifully. My grandmother, who lost
her husband at a fairly young age, brought up
her five sons with an iron hand and in return
her sons gave back a lot to her. He loved his
mother and he was the apple of her eye. He was
emotional and practical at the same time.
Being an artist, a painter I feel blessed to have
many interactions with him about my artwork.
He always encouraged and inspired me by
attending most of my shows. We would discuss
the body of my work and if ever he mentioned
he wanted a particular work I took it as a real
compliment. The thing was he always gave me
honest and in-depth opinion; he never tried to
make me happy just because I was his daughter.
My father has been my pinnacle, my hero and
my biggest critic. The persona of Feroz Khan is
immortal in Indian cinema and I feel very proud
to be his daughter.
(As told to Sushmita Bhattrai)
Feroz Khan with his wife Sundari Khan at a derby
SENIORS TODAY | Volume 1 | Issue 4